Very confused about ncsoft and the game...

I looked on the NCsoft store page... it seems you can buy any of the games, but also pay $10 for "bonus missions" and "skill unlock" packs... If you buy the trilogy do you get these anyways? or am I looking at even more to get the full game contents?

https://secure.ncsoft.com/cgi-bin/St...tem&item_id=99

and

https://secure.ncsoft.com/cgi-bin/St...tem&item_id=63

are two example of what I mean..

To put it another way (in case I was unclear):

If I buy the trilogy, for $50, do I still have to pay for these extra content packs to enjoy the game at full? or are these packs just for people who want an "a-la-carte" option to the game if they only own one version?

Simple answer: NO

Long answer:

The skill/pet/item unlocks are all for players interested in PvP chars. All PvE chars will unlock these items naturally through the course of the game.

The only situation in which skill unlock packs help is in PvP, or for established players creating new PvE chars.

Established players can use semi-rare skill tomes to get those skills on any new chars they create, for new players the option is useless as they likely won't be able to afford the tomes to begin with.

In PvP, you can unlock all those skills with faction you gain from fighting, it takes a while to unlock all the skills in the game that way, but hell, you can only bring 8 into battle with you at any given time.

Ah, ok. So if I am a PVE player (and maybe some pvp) it won't matter.

To somewhat build on Gennadios said, it's more or less just a convenience thing. You can unlock all the content through just playing. (Minus bonus mission pack, which gets you weapons you can only get from it, but aren't any stronger than other items, just look different) It's just that you'll have the option to use the items right away, rather than just getting them naturally.

So in short, no, it doesn't ruin / give you and incomplete experience.

kits is tellin a lie lol

jk jk

its exactly what they stated above

If you buy the Trilogy and the Bonus Mission Pack you have access to ALL content of the game. ALL those unlocks can be obtained through normal gameplay, in both PvE AND PvP, nobody needs to buy any unlocks. Think of buying them as of a cheat through some portion of the game. At current Faction gain rates it is possible to unlock 100% in ~2 months of active everyday gameplay, you can unlock faster than you'll get to actually use them. And remember that to actually play a fully efficient PvP character with a few different build choices available you don't need even 10% of those unlocks, you can get all needed in mere days.

Although skillpacks are not really needed, they still can be very handy, because every skill from that pack will be unlocked on your account and therefor they can be used by your heroes (that is especially handy for new players who have hardly any skills unlocked).

Another pro is that it allows you to use "tomes" to get unlocked skills yourself on your pve char(s). This is usually cheaper than buying the skills from skillstrainers (prices for new skills start cheap, but prices raise to 1k per skill very fast). However, Elite skills and Elite tomes are a diffrent story...

The Bonus Mission Pack is a separate item that doesn't come with the other campaigns an expansion (unless a particular bundle states that it does). The BMP just adds a few small quests/missions to primarily get some different weapon skins. But, in a sense, you would have to buy it to get all the content - it doesn't add any new explorable areas though.